Two Doors
by MitsuKurohiro72
Summary: They may be twins, but they are separated by two different societies. One is a ghoul, and the other isn't. This is another tragedy untold. (Fanfiction set in the Tokyo Ghoul universe; no direct and canonical connection to the original series.)
1. Prologue 1

_A/N: Hey. It's Mitsu. Again, I'd like to remind everyone that this is a spin-off Tokyo Ghoul fic. Even so, I am not going to claim ownership of the concept of ghouls by Ishida Sui-sensei. I only own the OCs to be shown in here. While this is a stand-alone fic, there will be mentions of canon Tokyo Ghoul characters, and some will be directly in the story. Like Arima Kishou. Though, the main focus will still be on the OCs._

 _Hope you enjoy it anyway!_

* * *

 _"Two doors exist:_

 _one leads to **hell** ; the other leads to **heaven**._

 _One guardian stands by each door;  
one will always tell the **truth** ,  
while the other will always **lie**._

 _You don't know which guards which door,  
and you have only one chance_

 _to ask a guardian_

 _to find out **which** door_

 _leads to **which** realm."_

* * *

 ** _"However, the real question was never about  
which door leads to which realm_**—  
— it is whether you will deserve that fate or not.

 **Logic will not save you from this riddle.** "

* * *

-久留美・恵美-

"Ah, someone finally jumped off the cliff again."

"Quick, before the guy in the trench coat somes!"

Two small figures ran in the woods at midnight; their footsteps splashing on water puddles, panting.

"This way!" one shouted. They ran faster until they reached their destination.

A disheveled corpse of a grown man lay with his chest against the ground. His skull cracked open with blood splattered all over the place and his neck curved in a strange angle. His legs were also bent in weird ways. His clothes were soaked in mud, from the collision with water puddles caused by the rain that afternoon.

"... Headfirst. How awful." One of the small figures narrowed her eyes and murmured a little prayer about feeling sorry for the corpse. She ended the prayer by whispering "Thank you for the meal."

She reached out for the shattered skull and dug on the scattered brain parts, quickly savoring the juicy texture of the human brain, sandwiched into some parts of the skin on the face. The brain is the oiliest and fattiest part, but it was a guilty pleasure.

The other figure only watched. "A lot of people do kill themselves here, huh... I never stopped wondering how father found this place. Doesn't the mud ruin the taste of the meat, Kuru-nee?"

The one called 'Kuru' swallowed her food. "It does... but food is still food. Would you like to try it, Megu? It tastes really good, you know. Not as good as female meat, maybe, but-"

"I'm good." Megu smiled brightly. "The fruits and the stolen canned goods are fine. I'll just be watching over you here."

"... Ah."

Megu stared as Kuru tore off a forearm with her bare hands and plucked off the fingers, then started biting at the epidermis. Seconds later, Kuru stopped and looked at Megu.

"... How many times should I tell you not to stare while I'm eating? Not even humans like it." Kuru looked down, a bit embarrassed.

Megu raised a brow. "Why not? I'm not from either species anyway."

"... I'm not from either species, too, but that doesn't stop me from feeling uncomfortable."

"Heheheh, you have a point." Megu laughed, "But anyway, you look beautiful when you eat, Kuru-nee."

Kuru wiped blood off her cheeks, but it smudged and made her face look messier instead. "... Seriously?"

"I mean it!" Megu smiled as she touched Kuru's left cheek. "Your left eye shows pretty colors when you're eating. Isn't it beautiful?"

"It shows that I'm a creature to be scared of." Kuru shook her head, biting on the dermis of the arm she tore off. She'll be full soon.

"I don't have a kakugan, but I'm still a creature to be scared of."

"... At least you can hide it and blend in with people, right? I can't even blend in with both human and ghoul communities. Father told me not to, remember?"

"But, if I try to blend in with people, then I won't be with Kuru-nee!" Megu playfully hugged Kuru. Kuru only smiled softly, before hugging back.

They've only had each other. Their mother had died right after they were born, while their father died in the hands of ghoul investigators two years ago. Being outcast orphans at ten years old wasn't easy, especially if their father was a ghoul. And _especially_ when only their father was a ghoul and their mother was a human.

It was a miracle for a human female to be able to bear twins with a ghoul as the father. But she did die easily after birth, and only the older twin became a one-eyed ghoul. The other was thought to be a human, but since the older twin wasn't able to eat it, the younger twin was assumed to be a demihuman; she had the senses of a regular ghoul, but had a shorter life span.

Kuru let go of the hug, looking up at the cliff. "The man in the trench coat isn't here yet. I wonder why?"

Megu looked up as well. "Maybe he saw us and now he's decided not to pick the corpse up, since you already ate a portion of it."

"Well, he usually comes to take corpses, even if it's just portions of it. He doesn't talk to us, though."

Megu only shrugged, until she suddenly heard a soft snap of a twig. She stood up. "Someone's here."

Kuru had already stopped eating, but her kakugan was still exposed. "The trench coat guy...?"

"... I don't think so..."

Kuru covered her left eye with her hand and looked around. A few footsteps could soon be heard. "H-how many are they...?" She didn't have to wait for a reply. Several weapons and briefcases already started to come in to the light from the moon. _Quinque._ Doves.

The reason why the "guy in the trench coat" wasn't there was because there were doves around the place.

The fact that more than one ghoul investigator stood there was enough for the twins to take action.

"Run!" Megu whispered.

"Under the 5th tree!" Kuru whispered back. The twins ran to different directions: Megu to the right and Kuru to the left. They knew the forest more than anybody, as they had lived there for five years with their father. They should know what to do to fool investigators. They'll be fine.

 _Or will they be?_

Kuru did not look back while she was running, but when she was already approaching the sycamore tree—a tree marked with 'VI,' Megu wasn't there. She climbed up the tree to hide and try to look for Megu from the top of the tree. She wasn't anywhere.

"Strange... she was always the first one to arrive..." Kuru mumbled to herself, panting. _Did she go to the 'V' tree instead?,_ she thought. "Under the 5th tree" actually means "above the 6th tree." It was supposed to be a code their father taught them. _Did Megu mishear me?_ Kuru thought, jumping to the next tree, which is the one marked with 'V' on its trunk. There was nobody there.

Oddly enough, a single sign of the doves couldn't be seen anymore.

-久留美・恵美-

Only the half-ghoul "Kuru" was able to come to their meetup place by dawn.

* * *

 _A/N: The "guy in the coat" is Manager Yoshimura. Thanks for reading!_


	2. Prologue 2: Tatsuno Megumi

_A/N: Hello! I forgot to mention that this fanfic's also in Wattpad under ChiyoeAkamori27. (Yes, that's me under a different name. Maaann, where is the consistency lmao._

 _Also, I'd just like to say that the story takes place a few days after Tokyo Ghoul Jack. Arima's gonna be here, but like I said before, the main focus is on the OCs. ^ ^ Enjoy!_

* * *

-メアリーの部屋-

-恵美-  
-MEGUMI-

 _This wasn't home._

I couldn't see Kuru-nee anywhere; this was definitely not our home in the woods.

The last thing I remembered was Kuru-nee telling me where to meet up after the doves came... but after that, things were... blurry. Guess I was really caught. My head hurt just by trying to remember... Was I hit in the head by those doves...?

 _And everything's too bright...! Gahhh... Definitely not good for a headache._

I sat up, and my headache worsened from the sudden movement.

"Kuru... nee?" I whispered, but a sound barely came out from my mouth since my throat was dry. My eyes started to adjust to the bright room.

 _I'm in an isolation chamber_ —that much I could understand. I wasn't wearing my own clothes. In the room there was only a door (which was shut, of course) and a landscape mirror next to it.

The more my eyes absorbed my surroundings, the more I understood what the hell could happen to me in here...

 _They're gonna experiment on me, aren't they? I'm a child of a ghoul and a human and yet I don't have a kakugan or a kakune. I'm not normal. I don't belong anywhere. They're probably going to dissect me because I'm weird._

I started to panic; this is it. _It's over_. It's over before Kuru-nee and I could even start a better life.

... _I'm so, so scared._

I quickly ran and jumped to look through the small window on the door. _I need to get outta here, to Kuru-nee..._

But before I could even look for any openings to escape, I noticed a man standing outside, in front of the supposed mirror from my side, turning to me. Our eyes met.

He took a step towards the door, his eyes not leaving mine. I took a step back in response, and I can already tell the chill down my spine. He fiddled with the door, and with a beep, it opened.

At first sight, I thought he was a normal middle school student. He was only wearing a school uniform and had a large guitar case slung on his shoulders. Being a 10-year-old kid back then, I would've ran past the guy and at least tried to escape. I would've... tried. _But I couldn't_ _._ It was like my whole body was frozen. I willed myself to move, but the his gaze kept me from doing so. Something about him told me that I was already looking at Death itself.

"Don't be scared," the boy said.

I didn't even reply. I couldn't even move my lips right. _No way I wouldn't be scared._

"You're just the same as me," he continued with a blank stare. His gaze was terrifying yet beautiful at the same time.

"S-same as... you?" My voice sounded more like a croak. My dry throat didn't help.

He finally closed the door, throwing away my chances of escaping. "Yes. We're both hybrids; we are only half-human."

 _Hybrids? Half-human? I don't understand... Is he saying Kuru-nee and I are not the only ones who..._

I finally managed to speak. "Who... who are you? And where am I?"

"I'm an ally. I'm Arima Kishou. You're in Cochlea right now."

"-?!" _Cochlea._ That's where ghouls are imprisoned.

"Don't worry, you'll be out soon," Arima said as he gently knelt to the floor to get to my eye level.

 _Did he say 'out'?_ "Y-you won't experiment on my blood?"

"No."

"Or dissect me?"

"There is no need to. From now on, you'll be trained to become part of the CCG. There are also people there from the Garden. Your background information will also be kept as a top secret info, so don't worry."

"W-wait, I'm... safe? With the doves...?"

Arima only nodded. The expression on his face still seemed blank; I couldn't read what was going on in his head. I was confused (the headache didn't help). My father had warned us to never trust anyone because we were different. We were "unique," he would say. And then suddenly, another person tells us we're off the same kind. The thought of it reminded me of Mary's room, somehow.

"Th-then, is Kuru-nee also here?" I asked.

"Kuru...?" Arima tilted his head a bit.

"M-my sister. If you took her, she would be safe here, too." Tears started pouring out of my eyes. It was the first time I've been separated from my sister. Of course I'd panic about being alone. The fact that I don't totally get what's happening scared me. Did my sister feel the same, then? "She's the only person I trust."

"... She's not here," Arima answered. "Your sister won't be allowed to be here anyways."

I felt my chest tighten. "B-but, my sister is al—"

"—not one of us," he cut me off mid-sentence. "She is... an enemy to the CCG."

"... Eh?"

 _He knows about Kuru-nee?_

Somehow I could tell that Arima was telling the truth; he's also half-human. However, I also understood that he's not on my side just yet.

I'm _half-human_. The body of a human with the physical abilities of a ghoul.

And Kuru-nee's... a half- _ghoul_. She feeds on humans; she has a beautiful kakugan on her left eye, and a beautiful kagune. However, she will still be an enemy of the doves just by breathing and staying alive. So...

... Ah.

 _I see now._

" _Where_ is Kuru-nee?"

Arima didn't respond. I willed myself to push further. " _Where. Is. My sister?_ "

He still stayed silent.

"Did you _kill_ her?"

A few seconds later, he raised his chin and stood back up. "... So what if I did." He looked at me with eyes that reflect what I had assumed was those of apathy.

 _No way._

 _N-no._

"You... _BASTARD!_ "

I found myself charging at him and launching my firsts towards him. My movements seemed too rushed, desperate. I was trying to hit him on his torso, but he dodged them all.

"... So predictable," he uttered. "Are you trying to kill yourself?"

"Shut up...!" I stepped backward, and jumped towards him.

Who wouldn't be upset!? It was the first time I've felt so alone. And it was the first time I've met another demihuman. And then I'd found out that killed the only family I have left. _Why did he come here in the first place, telling me to join him as if he wants me to treat him as my savior?!_

I am a so called demihuman, and I was pretty confident in my own strength. But I was cornered so easily by this man. I was supposed to let him try to attack me upfront as I jumped, but I was planning on push one hand on his shoulder to get myself kicking him from the back. But before I could reach his shoulder, he already caught my fist and used that momentum to swiftly pull me towards him and get his elbow to my neck.

But before his elbow hit me, he stopped pulling, nudging my head lightly instead. "Enough of this." He let go of my hand, and I weakly let myself drop into the floor.

I started sobbing, feeling weak. Several negative emotions flowed inside of me: fear of death; fear of isolation; grief; despair; anger.

"... I want to see Kuru-nee," I sobbed.

"You can't see her anymore."

My chest tightened. "I was always dependent on her. I don't even see any reason to live without her by my side..."

"If you really want to take revenge against me, then you have to do as I say."

"You mean... join the doves." I started wiping my tears. "It's because we have the blood of ghouls that humans are using our bodies to kill them, right?"

"... I don't like how you phrased that."

"... Haha" ... That was sarcasm.

I already knew what was going to happen. It wasn't like I had a choice. My home was gone. My dear sister whom I had loved so much was gone. I lost hope of freedom. At that time, it seemed like being a dove was the only option for me. I was a kid, alright.

"What's your name?" Arima asked.

"M-megu... mi." I stood up. "Tatsuno... Megumi."

"Tatsuno," he held my hand his gaze still blank. "I'm taking you to the Garden. You'll become a ghoul investigator under my care."

I didn't reply, but as he opened the door to go outside, I find myself following him so blindly. I probably felt like an empty vessel back then, thinking that since I am literally by myself, I'd just have to keep moving like a robot.

... _So naive..._

* * *

-恵美-

 _ーぼうやのお守りは どこへ行った。_

 _あの山こえて 里へ行ったー_

My sister singing a lullaby to me echoed through my ears.

That was the last time I heard that lullaby, even in my mind.


	3. Prologue 3: Tatsuno Kurumi

江戸子守唄

-久留美-

-KURUMI-

 _I'm alone._ Walking without someone by my side was scarier than I thought. I thought it was _me_ who was guarding Megu whenever we're together. Look how scared I am now that she's gone.

Guess it was both ways.

After the doves chased us, the night had already passed by quickly, and I had already left the tree marked with 'VI' and went back to the small hut we built with my father five years ago. The hut was placed in a blind spot in the woods, keeping Megu and I safe... at least for five years.

Did everything that father did for us just crumble to pieces with Megu being gone...?

 _Is she even alive in the first place...?_

Walking out of our shelter, I rubbed my hands together to warm myself up a bit. It was supposed to be summer, but because of the rain yesterday, the soil seeped with cool air.

Still, I willed myself to walk back to that tree. Although Megu's senses are way better than mine, maybe I could still find some clues. Or maybe this was all just a dream, and Megu would be there waiting for me, yelling out, "I gotcha, didn't I, Kuru-nee?" And then she'd grin and glomp at me with those thin arms of hers.

... I wish that had been the case. But when I arrived back at the tree, no one was there. It stood as silent as it can be I climbed up, but there was no sign of anyone being there besides me, save for a couple of rhinoceros beetles crawling around the trunk. I stared at the sight. At least I wasn't so alone here.

I looked down from a high branch, and noticed something on the ground. Foot prints. Three pairs of them. The footprints seemed like they were approaching this tree, then took a U-turn.

... They went under this tree last night? I didn't notice at all. I guess I nearly got caught as well... Thankfully I was carefully hidden in the shadows, curled up, waiting (and panicking). The doves chose to come here in the woods at night, after all.

Though, there's that guilty feeling that I should have at least watched where Megu was from this spot that night. I trusted too much that she'd definitely come. I felt like I became selfish at some point.

I sighed before jumping down from the tree, landing with a forward roll. I tried to follow the footprints until they started growing in numbers, overlapping. I could distinguish at least 5 different prints, but that was useless when I couldn't tell where they came from. If Megu was here, she would've been able to track them quickly.

Eventually, I arrived at the point where the corpse I ate last night lay there. It looked more messed up than before, being stepped on by doves. A few houseflies were already feasting on it, since it was already sitting for a night. Plus, it was soaking wet, so it would easily rot, and more so the taste. I buried the corpse instead, in a hole Megu made before we found the corpse. I prayed for an apology.

The footprints' trails soon ended far away from the corpse. It was replaced by tracks by car tires.

"... Have they been observing us for a while now?" I wondered.

Were they targeting me, and took Megu as a mistake? I was the more dangerous twin for the majority, bearing kakuhou and having a functional kagune. I'm one-eyed, too, so that makes it even more dangerous than your average ghoul. I recalled when Megu and I tried to steal food for her in the neighborhood once. She told me she heard some ghouls talk about a one-eyed ghoul making a name for themselves in the 1st to the 3rd wards. The _One-Eyed Owl_ or something.

I don't want to become that kind of ghoul. I thought, maybe their hatred towards the world made them rampage around.

I do think that this is a messed up world. Just because we were born differently, we're suddenly treated like we're heartless monsters. That's wrong. We're only eating humans because we want to stay alive. Anyone wouldn't want to die, right? It would be better if someone understood that...

I sighed. _It's not like I belong on any of those sides, anyway._

Going back: did they mistake Megu for me? ... I can't tell.

... I decided to take a walk around the neighborhood, maybe walk around the CCG's building in the 20th ward. At least I need more clues on what's going on. Discreetly, of course. I walked back to the hut and wore a medical eye patch, took a hoodie, and wore sandals.

"I'm going out," I instinctively said, not really expecting a response.

It was a long walk to the CCG building, especially since I had to take detours and use the dark alleys around the neighborhood for me not to be seen. People would usually get tired from all this walking, but I'm already used to it. Hiding in a dark alley a few blocks away from the building, which was a blind spot of the CCTV cameras as my father told me, I watched for any signs of Megu. I waited for several minutes. Then, an hour passed.

"... I'm wasting my time," I mumbled. While I do want to save my sister, I can't just charge in there alone... I'd be heading to an early grave if I enter. If I had friends, maybe I could...

"Agh-!" Someone suddenly grabbed my hand from behind, pulling me further into the alley.

"Breakfast! And it's alive!" A middle-aged woman's voice cheered. "Finally, after weeks... eh? You smell weird..."

"P-please let go of—" I yelped as the woman pinned me to the wall with her right hand gripping on my wrists. She snatched my eye patch away, and started sniffing at my body.

"You smell human but..." she sniffed at my waist. "You also smell... like me... I suddenly feel excited... hehehe..."

I clicked my tongue. This is why I hated being seen even by ghouls _._ I punched the woman's chin with an uppercut, making her unintentionally bite her tongue. She made a sound similar to a screech, but her voice was rough and it sounded more like an agitated whisper. Well, at least she loosened her grip and let me drop to the floor.

"Y-you..." She put her hand on her mouth, blood gushing out of it. "Wath are yer?!" (What are you?!)

I frowned, ignoring the question. It would be bad if I fought back, since she removed my eye patch. I don't want to risk showing off my kakugan at this point. We don't need another one eyed ghoul being pursued by the CCG. Instead of fighting back, I ran further into the alley as I put my hood on my head, then turned left to get into the CCTV camera blind spots. When I looked back, however, the crazy woman was chasing after me.

"Kuru-chan!"

Someone suddenly pulled my arm from behind, towards the left. I didn't even notice there was a narrow passage there.

"Mmph!?" The person who caught me was covering my mouth, not letting me yell out. Soon enough, the female ghoul after me was already past where I was, running off to the distance. _Phew._

Soon, the person behind me gently removed his hand on my mouth. "I think she's already that far. S-sorry, Kuru-chan."

I turned to face him. It was a familiar-looking kid who was about two years older than me. His face was dimmed by a black cap, but I can still recognize it. "... Yoru?"

He nodded, fiddled with the strap of his knapsack, then smiled faintly. "I'm glad it really is Kuru-chan. I suddenly saw you running towards here. Ghoul senses are amazing, huh."

It's Izumo Yoru. A friend whose family (it was just him and his grandfather) used to live with us in that forest for a few months. Just a few weeks ago, he and his family went out to hunt, but didn't come back. Megu and I tried looking for them, but couldn't find them.

"Y-you're alive...?" I stuttered. Of course I had to ask. He nodded back again.

"And Izumo-jii-san?" I asked again. He should be with his grandfather somewhere.

"... It's just me right now," he casually replied. "Gramps got shot down by other competitor ghouls while hunting, so he couldn't come back. Where's Megu-chan?"

I flinched at the question, but I tried my best to smile. "It's just me right now, too. I'm sorry about your grandpa."

"Eh? What happened to her?" Yoru sounded as if he was more concerned about Megu than his grandfather.

"Um... I don't really know where she is exactly... The doves just came last night and... I don't even know if she's alive or not. So I'm uh... here."

"I see..." Yoru nodded, then he put down his knapsack to the ground opened. I looked inside, only to see some plastic containers that seem to be filled with... meat?

"Where did you get all those..?" I asked.

"The morgue. Before they were injected with formalin." Yoru fished out the smallest container and passed it to me. "Here. You might be hungry."

I took the container and stared. "Eh? Ah, but I don't really like gifts..."

"Just take it. Oh, right. Do you want to come with me?"

"Huh?"

"W-wait, sorry, that was a bad start," he lowered his cap to hide being embarrassed. "Well... actually, the main reason I didn't come back to the woods was... not just because Gramps died. There were people who took me in. They're from a small boarding school for ghouls in the 20th ward."

"A school... for ghouls?"

"I'm not kidding. You won't know, because we coexist with humans there. It's actually just a middle school, and I'm entering next year. It's pretty well hidden."

"Then... those containers are not just from corpses from the morgue..."

"N-no! We don't eat the human students and staff, I swear. We just use them as a shield to hide the ghouls..." Yoru said softly. "Do you wanna go there?"

"Eh, b-but, our home in the forest..." As far as I know the only group supporting ghouls was the coffee shop named Anteiku, but I was too scared to approach them because I was only half a ghoul. I don't think this will be different...

"It's better to check on the CCG when you're in a nearby area, right? Don't worry, you'll be safe there."

He's right. I stared back at the CCG building again, tightening my grip on the small container with human meat in it. Maybe going to a sanctuary of ghouls wouldn't be so bad. "I'll go back to our home first," I uttered, turning back to Yoru.

"Mm-hmm. Got it. Let's meet here later."

"O-okay."

I ran back to our little home in the woods. It was already approaching noon, but I had to move quick despite the scorching summer heat. I gathered all my important stuff into a bag, then demolished the whole home, then left without leaving any traces. It was as if I didn't care about the place. But that's not it. It was heartbreaking since it was my home, but... for some reason, I felt excited. I'm starting to hope that I can save my sister anytime soon. Luckily, Yoru saw me. He was one of the few people who didn't treat me as an alien. If he told me not to worry, then I'll trust him on that. Besides, I can't save Megu without having comrades with me or what. One of my fears was seeing people's reactions about my kakugan. Ghouls and humans alike have seen me and both of them got terrified. And so was I. I realized how much of a monster I really was. But I'm willing to risk it, for my sister.

-久留美-

"Should we go?" Yoru asked.

"Y-yeah." I tightened my grip on my bag.

Yoru proceeded walking deeper into the alley. I inhaled the city air, then exhaled. And then I started following him.

-久留美-

Just then, I heard Megu's laugh inside my head.

Will I be able to hear that again?


End file.
